A sneak peek at U.K. prod’n

Besides the selections from around the world previewed in last week’s Variety, the United Kingdom has a major list of offerings of its own. Listed by director, pix either in production or skedded to roll in the next few months from the U.K. are:

* Ken Loach. Loach follows up Cannes competitor “Land and Freedom” with “Carla’s Song,” a love story about a Glaswegian bus driver who meets and falls for a Nicaraguan refugee when she can’t afford her fare. Starts shooting in the fall.

* Peter Greenaway. Vivian Wu and “Shallow Grave’s” Ewan McGregor star in “The Pillow Book,” a Greenaway esque tale of sex, revenge and body calligraphy. Currently in post, this Brit-Dutch-Japanese co-prod is set for late August.

* Nicolas Roeg. Following the Michael Gambon-Sonia Braga starrer, “Two Deaths,” a love story set against a background of civil war, Roeg wrapped recently on “Hotel Paradise,” an episode of the Regina Ziegler-produced “Erotic Tales Part II.” Theresa Russell awakes on the day before her wedding to discover herself in bed with Vincent D’Onofrio.

* Kenneth Branagh. In postproduction, “In the Bleak Midwinter” sees Branagh back in “Peter’s Friends” territory, as a group of out-of-work thesps struggle to stage “Hamlet.”

* Michael Caton-Jones. Due to begin shooting later this year, Scala Prods.’ “B. Monkey,” is a contempo tale of love, sex and crime set in London. Michael Thomas scripts from Andrew Davies’ novel.

* Martin Campbell. James Bond makes his 17th outing in his fifth incarnation (Pierce Brosnan) in “Goldeneye,” alongside Sean Bean, Robbie Coltrane, and Judi Dench as “M.” Bond returns to Russia on the trail of a missing weapons program. Currently shooting in the U.K. and Russia, pic is shooting for a Thanksgiving release in the states.

* Robert Young. John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin and Kevin Kline follow up smash Britcom “A Fish Called Wanda” with the tentatively titled “Death Fish II,” scripted by Cleese and British journalist Iain Johnstone. Pic, set in and around a zoo, shooting began May 15.

* Danny Boyle. Irvine Welch’s cult novel “Trainspotting,” is next up for “Shallow Grave” team of director Boyle, producer Andrew MacDonald and star Ewan McGregor. An exploration of the drugs culture in Glasgow, pic rolls in May.

* Lewis Gilbert. “Haunted” is a supernatural thriller set in the ’20s, with a cast headed by Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale and John Gielgud. Based on James Herbert’s bestseller.

* Oliver Parker. Laurence Fishburne will play the Moor in Dakota’s film of Shakespeare’s “Othello,” due to roll mid-June. Kenneth Branagh will play Iago and Irene Jacob is in final negotiations to play Desdemona.

* Angela Pope. Pope (“Captives”) has Hal Hartley regular Martin Donovan leading the cast of “The Hollow Reed” as a gay father battling to win custody of his 9-year-old son. Shooting on the Scala Prods., pic is set to wrap early June.

* Alexander Whitelaw. Set to helm “Vicious Circles,” an erotic thriller set in Paris.

* David Hayman. Latest pic by Hayman (“The Hawk”) is “The Near Room,” a noirish thriller toplining Adrian Dunbar as a Glasgow journalist on the trail of a missing girl. Film is likely to preem at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August.

* Vadim Jean. Metrodome Films’ “Clockwork Mice” stars Ian Hart as a new teacher at a school for maladjusted children. After screening in the Cannes market, pic will open in the U.K. on June 16.

* Bob Keen. Fun and games on a North Sea oil rig with Craig Fairbrass (“Beyond Bedlam”) and Lance Henriksen in Metrodome’s “Proteus,” a sci-fi actioner about a mutating monster. Wrapped last month after a seven-week shoot.

* John Paul Davidson. Helmer recently wrapped on “The Grotesque,” a bizarre story about a butler entering the stagnating world of an aristocratic family seat. Alan Bates, Sting and Theresa Russell star.